About

Hello and welcome to pcGameware we hope that you enjoy your time here, please take a moment to read a little about the site, its ethos and get to know us a little better.

Ethos

pcGameware prides itself on one major thing above all others and that is the accuracy of its reviews. That is not to say that this is a site dedicated to nerds (although James has been called one on numerous occasions!), this accuracy comes from the fact that each review will be carried out over a 5 – 10 day period by someone who actually plays games and the component being reviewed will be part of our Test Rig for that period of time. These components for review wont be tested on test-benches or in open cases as that’s not what YOU will be doing! These reviews will not be done within a matter of hours because of a products newness to market and we have no reason to favour one manufacturer over another, nor are we trying to sell you anything. As we are also not after being one of the first reviews to be published this should allow us to bring you some of the most balanced and accurate reviews on the web.

Real world testing is what we are talking about here at pcG.

Review Process

Outlined below is pcGameware’s standard review process:

Each component is reviewed over a 5 – 10 day period using our Test Rig (this rig is used for all of our testing and for Gaming in general). The component being reviewed is then given a score out of 10 in the following 3 categories:

Design/Quality – A close look at the build quality of the product and the design & thought that has gone into it, has a manufacturer gone that extra mile.

Performance – How well does the product achieve what it sets out to do, often just how fast is it!

Value – Is what’s on offer by the product in sync with the price (online price – we use Amazon’s price as a reference where possible).

These 3 scores are then added together and a rounded Overall score is given. If the product scores 7.5 or above (rounded to 8.0) then a Bronze pcGameware Dogtag award is awarded, 8.5 or above (rounded to 9.0) and a Silver Dogtag is awarded and finally if the component scores 9.5 or over (rounded to 10) then a Gold Dogtag is awarded.

If a component were to do the unthinkable and score 10 out of 10 in all of the categories, then it’s surely worthy of our most prestigious award of all, the Platinum award. Don’t expect to see too many of these.

If a component just isn’t up to scratch and we would quite frankly not recommend it (ever!), then it’s likely to get an MIA (Missing In Action) Dogtag, we hope we don’t give out too many of these.

THE TEAM

pcG James

James is the founder of pcGameware and has been involved with computers since 1982 when he took his first steps via a ZX Spectrum and Horrace Goes Skiing. James has been effectively tied to a computer ever since apart from a few years (1986 -1991) where he thought windsurfing was going to become his life (fool!). He can thank his wife (thanks!) for the re-introduction to computers after in 1992 he received an Amiga for Xmas. Since then James has always been heavily involved in games, at one point he was building a complete new rig every 12 months. It was during this time that James took another step and that was into the world of over-clocking. This has seen James build some rather impressive gaming rigs (we are NOT talking over-clocked water cooled monsters) but rigs that have an uncanny ability to be reliable, fast and surprisingly, not that expensive!

It’s these skills and this knowledge combined with James’s dedication to quality and accuracy that has led him here…

Terry – labelling you as the “Budget King” may be harsh, but I will ask anyway – are you able to provide a surgery for suggested component upgrades for the affordable end of the market if provided with my current spec sheet?

Hi Jimbo – As “budget king”, I’m sure I could help you out with some advice on putting together an affordable, and performant system. Email over your current spec sheet to terry@pcgameware.co.uk and I will see what I can do.